ABSTRACT
It is perhaps axiomatic that the U.S. military both attracts and angers gay men. Emboldened by mass-media depictions of elegant,domineering officers and their burly, compliant subordinates, gay American men are also conditioned to recognize (and asked to respect) the U.S. military’s openly homophobic, discriminatory policies.The ambivalence that so often results can have a deeply distressing, disorienting effect.Even a cursory survey of recent military hate crimes confirms the violent coexistence of homoerotic attraction and homophobic repulsion in service environments.1
